


Of Neighbors and Devils

by Invincible_Voldemort



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Percy thinks his new blonde neighbor is super pretty, Romance, Too bad he can't keep his mouth shut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25100401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Invincible_Voldemort/pseuds/Invincible_Voldemort
Summary: In which Percy rants about the mean landlady to his really, really, really pretty, new neighbor...Only to find out that she’s the landlady’s daughter.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 88





	Of Neighbors and Devils

Percy stared at the blonde standing in front of his apartment complex, his mouth hanging open. She was absolutely stunning with those blonde princess curls. So stunning that he nearly tripped over the crack on the sidewalk while staring at her.

Mrs. O'Leary barked at the sudden interruption in their walking, forcing Percy to look away from the girl standing at his doorstep. The bark caught the blonde's attention as she glanced over to where he was standing.

"Uh, hi," he said hesitantly. He gave a small wave before chiding himself for acting like an idiot.

"Hi?" she returned the wave with an awkward one of her own.

Percy vaguely registered her response, but he was too enraptured by those beautiful gray eyes that were now starting to look at him in concern as the silence stretched on. The girl eventually bent down to pet his dog. Percy swore he fell in love the moment she gently ran her fingers over Mrs. O'Leary's ears. He watched as his dog playfully nuzzled in his snout in the girl's palm.

Percy cleared his throat, "Can I help you…?"

He nodded his head in the direction of the front door. The blonde's eyes widened, "Oh, do you live here?"

"Yup," Percy replied when a sudden thought struck him, "Are you here for a tour?" There had been a staggering increase in the number of people interested in the other units of his building. Given the apartment's close proximity to the university and with August coming up soon, many leases were waiting to be filled in time for the new school year.

Wait!

Did that mean that this girl could potentially be one of his new neighbors?

"I'm moving in upstairs," she stood up from the ground, brushing the dirt off her knees before responding. She gestured to the window located directly above his own apartment.

Percy gave a silent prayer of thanks to whomever was responsible for this luck. Knowing that the girl was already planning to move in upstairs imbued him with a confidence he hadn't had earlier.

"Well, in that case, nice to meet you new neighbor!" he held out his hand which the girl gingerly shook. "Are you waiting for someone?" He noticed that she would keep looking past him at the door as though she were expecting someone.

"Huh?" she mumbled distractedly. "Oh, sorry. The movers were supposed to be here with my stuff twenty minutes ago." Just as she had finished saying the sentence, he watched as a look of relief pass through. He looked back to see one of those Two Men and a Truck trucks pull up to the curb. The men began unloading the boxes without much care. Percy scowled when he saw of one the boxes labeled fragile was turned sideways.

The blonde girl had her eyes narrowed but didn't comment.

"Hey— " Percy began as the movers had unloaded everything before getting back in the truck, but he was interrupted by the shrill ringtone of the blonde girl's phone. The girl immediately accepted the call, her eyebrows pulled together as she spoke urgently, "Luke, where the hell are you?"

Percy noted how she bit her lip as she spoke. Damn it. Why was she so cute?

"What? No, it's alright. I understand. Yeah, no worries. I'll work it out somehow," she ended the call with a demoralized sigh. Her eyes roamed over the multitude of boxes and furniture that had been laid out on the curb.

"Is something wrong?" Percy asked hesitantly.

She appeared startled, as though she had just realized that Percy had still not left. "One of my friends was supposed to help me unpack, but he just called into the hospital today. He didn't tell me he was on-call, and I was relying on him to help me move the big stuff upstairs."

"I could help?" Percy wasn't sure why he posed it as a question. He also wasn't sure why he offered to help given that he still had to work on his thesis proposal which was nowhere near complete.

The blonde looked at him, the surprise evident on her face, "I couldn't ask that of you. I—"

"I offered," Percy gave her a smile, "Look, you have a lot of stuff, and I can promise you this will go a lot quicker if I helped."

"You really don't have to do this," she protested. "I don't even know your name."

"You could have just asked," Percy chuckled as the girl's face twisted with indignation. "It's Percy."

She nodded her head, "I'm Annabeth. I really appreciate your help Percy, but I feel really bad."

"Don't worry about it. Like I said. I was the one who offered."

"Ok, but dinner's on me," she smiled brightly.

At this point, Percy was sure he was about to faint. She had such a pretty smile. Straight, pearly white teeth. Honestly, the smile would have been payment enough, but he was a starving grad student who was not going to turn down an offer of free dinner.

* * *

Hours later, the two collapsed on the couch that they had arranged in front of the TV. Percy was honestly exhausted and now had zero motivation or energy to work on his thesis proposal. He looked over to Annabeth who looked like she was struggling to stay awake.

They had just ordered pizza from a local pizzeria. In the five hours that he had helped Annabeth lug up her stuff and unpack, he had learned quite a bite about his new neighbor. She was a graduate student at the university's school of architecture. While she wasn't originally from there, she had grown up in California most of her life. This explained the tan. She had two younger half-brothers. Twins. They lived with her father back on the West Coast. And yes, she could tolerate the winters of the northeast despite her upbringing.

She was surprisingly easy to converse with given that Percy's first impression of her had been that she looked intimidating. Both intimidatingly beautiful and actually intimidating.

"Y'know," Percy said as he bit into the pizza, the cheese burning his tongue. "Fuck!" He cursed his impatience. Annabeth politely hid her snigger as she watched him trying to get rid of the burning sensation in his mouth. She offered him a glass of cold water which he gratefully took.

After downing the glass, he continued his statement. "Now that you're all moved in, I think it's time that I let you in on a secret," he whispered almost conspiratorially.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Annabeth played along, leaning in closer.

"The landlady is a pain in the ass. She's the devil in disguise," he stage-whispered.

"Is that so?" Annabeth had moved back, suddenly looking not so engaged in the conversation. "Why is that?"

Percy was too busy digging into another slice of pizza to notice the lack of expression on his neighbor's face.

"I've been in this apartment for… let's see… five months now. I delayed paying my rent one time by two days, and she was going to charge me fifty dollars per day that I delayed."

"You realize that's in the lease agreement, right?" Annabeth asked drily.

Percy sputtered, "But, it was only two days! And it was the first time."

"Is that the only reason you think she's a pain in the ass?" she questioned, an eyebrow raised to indicate she wasn't impressed.

"No!" Percy responded indignantly, now feeling slightly attacked for opening up to his neighbor. He was only trying to warn her what she was dealing with. "I wanted one of those DIY fish tanks, and she vetoed it! A fish tank. Frank has a giant fucking iguana in this building. Jason has a parakeet that's as annoying as him. Leo has two capybaras that he keeps letting loose!"

"Why can't I have a fish tank?!" he whined childishly.

Annabeth stifled her laughter at the black-haired boy's tone, "What was her reason?"

"She said, and I quote, 'I hate fish,'" he rolled his eyes.

At this point, Annabeth didn't even bother to suppress her laugh.

"It's not funny," he grumbled before dejectedly chewing on his pizza as though he had lost his appetite.

"It kind of is," Annabeth managed in between giggles.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Percy scowled.

"You mean the guy whom I met today or the lady in charge of making sure my apartment is running smoothly?" her tone was teasing but Percy felt a little hurt at the label. They had just spent hours together after all, unpacking her boxes.

He shook the disappointment away, "Making sure your apartment is running smoothly? Ha, what a joke."

"Care to elaborate?"

"You're not even taking my side!"

"Percy…"

"My faucet exploded two months ago. I didn't even touch it. The stupid thing just exploded on its own. She had the nerve to blame me. Like it was somehow my fault the pipes burst somewhere. She didn't even cover the repairs."

"Hmm."

"Hmm? That's it. That's all you have to say?"

"You've given me a lot to unpack here," she looked at him thoughtfully.

"Was that some sort of moving joke?"

Annabeth straightened up, "Percy, I'm going to confess something. Maybe something I should have told you before you started this topic."

Percy felt a little uneasy at the expression on her face.

"My name is Annabeth Chase," Annabeth looked at him expectantly.

"Okay…? I'm Percy Jackson? I'm confused. What are we doing now?"

"My last name is Chase, Percy."

"And?"

"Does that not ring a bell?"

"Is it supposed to?"

Annabeth sighed, "My mom is Athena Chase."

Athena Chase.

The name did sound familiar.

With dawning horror, Percy's expression turned into a grimace, "The she-devil? Wait, shit, sorry! She's your mom?"

Annabeth simply nodded, feeling the slightest bit of pity, but mostly amusement, as a range of emotions flitted across her new neighbor's face.

"Wh—why didn't you tell me? I've been badmouthing her non-stop. On your couch… eating the pizza you paid for. Fuck!" he covered his face with his greasy hands, too embarrassed to face the blonde.

"Percy."

"This is embarrassing," he groaned into his hands. "I'm a goddamn idiot."

He stood up abruptly, "You know what… I'm just gonna see myself out before I make a bigger fool of myself. It was nice talk— gah, I can't even say it was nice talking to you!"

Annabeth simply grinned at Percy's panicked expression, "If it's any consolation… I can confirm that she really is the devil in disguise."

* * *

"Do I have to meet her?" Percy grumbled as he climbed out of the car.

"Yes. Now Percy, quit whining." Annabeth closed the door shut before locking the vehicle behind her as the pair approached the house.

"But, Annabeth…" he complained.

"We've been dating for six months. I think it's time you met her," she said with a tone of finality.

"Why do you and your mother both like to torture me?"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Annabeth was initially supposed to be the landlady in this fic, but...  
> anyway, as always, I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.


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